Budget 2005 highlights for charities

Howard Lake | 17 March 2005 | News

This year’s Budget speech did not present any major benefits specifically for the charity and voluntary sector, but there were a number of announcements that will impact or benefit the sector.

The Chancellor Gordon Brown MP presented the government’s Budget yesterday, which included a number of measures that could benefit the voluntary sector and fundraisers.

The increase in inheritance tax threshold to £300,000 by 2007 should ensure that donors’ estates are worth slightly more should they leave a charitable bequest. Similarly, the provision to grant same-sex ‘civil partnerships’ the same tax advantages enjoyed by married couples could increase legacy income: people will be able to bequeath their assets to a same-sex partner without incurring inheritance tax.

A monument to The Queen Mother, who died in March 2002, is to erected in central London. It will be paid for from the proceeds of a new coin that is to be minted to celebrate the 80th birthday of Her Majesty The Queen.

The planned merger of the Inland Revenue and Customs & Excise should lead to reduced or simplified administration for charities, as well as businesses.

Arts organisations will benefit from £12 million of funding to improve training in skills and leadership. This comes a day before the Arts Council announced it was reducing its budget following the government’s latest spending round.

A new body, the National Sports Foundation, will coordinate public-private funding of grassroots sport, and received an initial investment of £27 million.

£150 million has been pledged to a new national framework for youth volunteering with the aim of recruiting one million volunteers aged 16 to 25 years over the next five years. This will form part of the UK’s first ‘national community service’.

The Chancellor confirmed that charities will not be able to reclassify admissions fees to zoos and museums in order to claim Gift Aid on them. As previously announced, from April 2006 charities will only be able to reclaim Gift Aid on admission fees if the visitor makes an additional 10% donation at the time of entry. Membership fees will continue to qualify for Gift Aid.

About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale. He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.